The Prince ( The Selection # 0.5 ) by Kiera Cass

RATING : 2.5 Stars

The Prince is a novella by Kiera Cass and I didn't enjoy as much I did with The Selection. The Prince was really hyped up and  the synopsis seemed to be intriguing, but quite frankly it does not add much to the story. The events before the selection has been explained and we could get a clear picture of the King and Prince Maxon.

To see my review of The Selection click here. I liked The Selection and Prince Maxon has become my favorite character but this adds very little to his character other than his weakness. It starts with Daphne, the French princess also his closest friend  confesses her love to Maxon on his nineteenth birthday and he is caught up by the thought of Daphne and the selection. Maxon is quite uptight and that is how he was raised. Maxon, eventually decides to go on with the selection. 

On the contrary, I was surprised to see how America and other girls were thinking of Maxon's reaction which was completely away from the truth. I was taken aback by the King's part in the selection. Nevertheless, The Prince explains Maxon's point of view about the selection, his cogitations and feelings towards the selected girls. If you would like to see more real of Maxon, The Prince is a good short story for you. 

Share your thoughts on this novella and I would love to them.

The Selection by Kiera Cass ( The Selection # 1)

RATING : 3.75 Stars

I got The Selection by Kiera Cass on a whim to read during my study break. Quite frankly I started with trepidation because of the all the mixed reviews and it's a Dystopia. Dystopia has never been my friend. I surmise I should change my thoughts towards Dystopian Genre after reading The selection. In my opinion, it's an amalgamation of The Hunger Games and The Bachelor (Tv series).  Although i had certain issues with the story, I was completely swept by the plot line. I liked the world Kiera Cass created. I ended up giving The Selection 3.75 of 5 stars rating.

The Selection is the story of selecting a Princess from thirty five girls(one from each province), set in the Dystopian society of Illea. Selecting the Princess will be decided by Prince Maxon (with the help of his family and advisors). Prince Maxon, hands down, an adorable and handsome person I'd ever met in my life. I'm totally swoon over Prince Maxon. *blushes*.

The dystopian world of Illea has been divided into "Castes". The Castes go from 1 through 8, 1 being the royal family and 8 are seen as scum of the earth. The protagonist America Singer, falls into the caste 5 (artists) and she is a singer. One girl from each province will be picked out at random to participate in the selection. America is one among the thirty five girls selected and she is forced by her mom to enter the selection and that means turning her back on her clandestine love with Aspen.

You might be wondering why 3.75 of 5 stars. Lets get to that now. Quite frankly I didn't like Aspen and I still don't. When Aspen and America get all lovey-dovey, I wanted to shout STOP, protesting their mawkish behavior. Also it was slow to start with but it did get better halfway through. Nevertheless of the qualms I liked the story because of Prince Maxon's  demeanor towards everyone especially with the selected girls. I'm Team Maxon all the way. There was a little twist in the story towards the end which i didn't expect and I assume it will all be answered later in the series. The ending was a cliff hanger.

All in all, The Selection was a good read. I would be picking up the sequel, The Elite soon. If you have enjoyed the Tv series The Bachelor I'm quite sure you'll like this book. Although you don't like Dystopia I would suggest you to give it a shot.